BCREA Hosts Government Liaison Days 2023 in Victoria

On May 7-9, 2023, BCREA and representatives from each of BC’s eight real estate member boards will gather in Victoria for our annual Government Liaison (GL) Days conference. We are looking forward to hosting this event in person again for the first time since 2019.  

GL Days is a key advocacy event during which organized real estate in BC speaks with one voice. During GL Days, REALTORS^® and member board representatives meet with their constituent Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to discuss BC housing policy and provide provincial-level policy recommendations to influence future government housing policy.  

This year, we will be presenting two recommendations to MLAs.  

Create a Permanent Housing Roundtable 

The lack of a permanent, holistic, coordinated approach to housing attainability has reduced the intended benefits of housing policy and produced unintended negative consequences that could have been anticipated and avoided with fulsome sector engagement. 

Much of the sectoral policy expertise exists outside of government, and many of these stakeholders are rarely adequately consulted, nor is there a permanently established process for the ongoing sharing of ideas, perspectives, and approaches between these groups. 

As such, we are recommending the creation of a permanent provincial housing roundtable within the newly created Ministry of Housing.    

BCREA has received endorsements of this policy recommendation from nine additional market and non-market stakeholders, including the  

• Aboriginal Housing Management Association,  
• Active Manufactured Home Owners Society,  
• Appraisal Institute of Canada – BC Association,  
• BC Non-Profit Housing Association,  
• Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association – BC,  
• LandlordBC,  
• Mortgage and Title Insurance Industry Association of Canada,  
• Small Housing BC, and  
• the Surrey Board of Trade.  

For more information, click here. 

Create More Missing Middle Housing Options 

Single-detached homes are generally the most expensive type of housing in any municipality. While single-detached homes are an important part of the housing continuum, they are out of reach for the vast majority of first-time homebuyers. 

Despite this reality, single-detached zoning currently makes up 60-75 per cent of residential zoning designations in BC, thereby assigning the entire cost of a lot to one dwelling unit. Being able to build between four and six units on a lot divides the land cost by the number of units, thus dramatically reducing the cost of each unit.   

Missing Middle Housing can be built quickly compared to large apartment buildings and will allow young families to move into neighbourhoods experiencing population stagnation.   

This is why we are recommending the BC government build on its "Homes for People" action to apply the province’s missing middle zoning legislation across the province rather than to a few select municipalities.   

Housing attainability is a province-wide issue, including in northern and rural communities, and it is important that policies to provide more attainable homes are considered across the province.  

For more information, click here.  

BCREA looks forward to presenting these recommendations to MLAs at GL Days in May.  

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